LITERATURE| THEY CAN’T KILL US UNTIL THEY KILL US…ESSAYS BY BY HANIF ABDURRAQIB (@NifMuhammad)

In an age of con­fu­sion, fear, and loss, Hanif Abdurraqib’s is a voice that mat­ters.

Wheth­er he’s attend­ing a Bruce Spring­steen con­cert the day after vis­it­ing Michael Brown’s grave, dis­cuss­ing pub­lic dis­plays of affec­tion at a Carly Rae Jepsen show, or rumin­at­ing on the impact Notori­ous B.I.G’s death had on his child­hood, he writes with a poignancy and mag­net­ism that res­on­ates pro­foundly.

In the wake of the nightclub attacks in Par­is, he recalls how he sought refuge as a teen­ager in music, at shows, and won­ders wheth­er the next gen­er­a­tion of young Muslims will not be afforded that oppor­tun­ity now. While dis­cuss­ing the every­day threat to the lives of black Amer­ic­ans, Abdur­raqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers: for attempt­ing to enter his own car.

In essays that have been pub­lished by the New York Times, MTV, and Pitch­fork, among others—along with ori­gin­al, pre­vi­ously unre­leased essays—Abdurraqib uses music and cul­ture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might bet­ter under­stand ourselves, and in so doing proves him­self a bell­weth­er for our times.

HANIF ABDUR­RAQIB is a poet, writer and crit­ic from Colum­bus, Ohio. His essays and music cri­ti­cism have appeared in The New York Times, The FADER, and Pitch­fork. He is cur­rently a colum­nist at MTV News. They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us was ori­gin­ally pub­lished by in the US by Two Dol­lar Radio in 2017.

Rishma Dhaliwal

Rish­ma Dhali­wal has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rish­ma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

Post navigation

About Rishma Dhaliwal

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless. Currently working in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media knowledge to I am Hip Hop and other projects by No Bounds.